NATO may redeploy anti-drone defenses as attacks sink more Black Sea shipping

Suspected Russian drone attacks sank a cargo ship and forced the evacuation of another vessel within two dozen miles of the coast of Bulgaria in the Black Sea on October 13. The latest attacks mean that five ships have been attacked in the exclusive economic zones of NATO member countries—spurring requests for NATO to redeploy counter-drone systems to provide more protection.

10月13日，在黑海保加利亚海岸24英里范围内，疑似俄罗斯的无人机袭击导致一艘货船沉没，并迫使另一艘船只上的船员撤离。最近的这些袭击意味着已有五艘船只在北约成员国的专属经济区内遭到攻击，这促使各方要求北约重新部署反无人机系统以提供更多保护。

Although there is no hard proof that the drone attacks originated from Russia, one of the ships that came under attack was the Ukrainian-operated coastal freighter Chelsea 3, registered under the flag of Malta. Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev told the Russian ambassador in Sofia that “it makes no sense for Ukraine to destroy its own ships in the Black Sea, and the results of these strikes favor Russia’s interests,” according to the Associated Press.

尽管没有确凿证据表明无人机袭击来自俄罗斯，但其中一艘遇袭船只是由乌克兰运营、悬挂马耳他国旗的沿海货船“切尔西3号”（Chelsea 3）。据美联社报道，保加利亚总理鲁门·拉德夫（Rumen Radev）在索非亚对俄罗斯大使表示：“乌克兰没有理由摧毁自己在黑海的船只，而且这些袭击的结果符合俄罗斯的利益。”

All 15 members of the Ukrainian-owned Chelsea 3 were safely evacuated by Bulgarian rescue operations after the ship was reportedly struck by three aerial drones. But authorities are still searching for 11 missing crew members of the Guinea-Bissau-flagged cargo ship Dignity, which sank after coming under attack, the Associated Press reported. Five mariners were initially rescued from that ship.

据报道，乌克兰拥有的“切尔西3号”在遭到三架空中无人机袭击后，船上全部15名船员被保加利亚救援行动安全撤离。但据美联社报道，当局仍在搜寻悬挂几内亚比绍国旗的“尊严号”（Dignity）货船上11名失踪船员，该船在遇袭后沉没。此前，该船已有5名船员获救。

These incidents mark the latest in a growing series of unprecedented attacks on Black Sea shipping in the exclusive economic zones of NATO countries. One week earlier, aerial and sea drones sank the Togo-flagged cargo ship Alfa Watan and left the Palau-flagged cargo ship Able afire about 80 miles (128 kilometers) off the coast of Bulgaria on October 6.

这些事件标志着北约国家专属经济区内针对黑海航运的一系列前所未有的袭击事件愈演愈烈。一周前的10月6日，在距离保加利亚海岸约80英里（128公里）处，空中和海上无人机导致悬挂多哥国旗的“阿尔法·瓦坦号”（Alfa Watan）货船沉没，并使悬挂帕劳国旗的“艾布尔号”（Able）货船起火。

The 18 crew members of the Able were rescued—two required hospitalization—but the 10-member crew of the Alfa Watan has been presumed dead after rescuers failed to find any survivors. Such incidents first began when the Turkish-owned cargo ship Royad Mammadov came under drone attack and eventually sank near Romania’s Black Sea coast on October 5. All 11 crew members were rescued.

“艾布尔号”上的18名船员获救，其中两人需要住院治疗；但在救援人员未能找到任何幸存者后，“阿尔法·瓦坦号”上的10名船员被推定死亡。此类事件始于10月5日，当时土耳其拥有的“罗亚德·马马多夫号”（Royad Mammadov）货船在罗马尼亚黑海海岸附近遭到无人机袭击并最终沉没。船上全部11名船员均获救。

In response to the attacks, Bulgaria has stepped up cooperation with affected NATO member countries and the alliance as a whole. On October 14, Bulgarian Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov told the national parliament that the country would join NATO’s Drone Edge initiative that includes member countries committing a total of $40 billion toward developing more counter-drone capabilities over the next five years, according to the independent news publication The Sofia Globe.

为应对这些袭击，保加利亚加强了与受影响北约成员国及整个北约的合作。据独立新闻刊物《索非亚环球报》（The Sofia Globe）报道，10月14日，保加利亚国防部长迪米塔尔·斯托亚诺夫（Dimitar Stoyanov）向国民议会表示，该国将加入北约的“无人机边缘”（Drone Edge）倡议，该倡议包括成员国承诺在未来五年内总共投入400亿美元，用于开发更多的反无人机能力。

NATO officials are also now weighing the possibility of moving existing anti-drone countermeasures to the region after receiving requests from Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey, diplomats told Politico. The three countries are also cooperating on an initiative to safeguard freedom of navigation in the Black Sea, which Bulgaria’s prime minister Radev plans to present to the European Union this week.

据外交官向《政治报》（Politico）透露，在收到保加利亚、罗马尼亚和土耳其的请求后，北约官员目前正在权衡将现有的反无人机防御措施转移到该地区的可能性。这三个国家还在合作开展一项旨在维护黑海航行自由的倡议，保加利亚总理拉德夫计划于本周向欧盟提交该倡议。